Always remember what your bag looks like!

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tuppaware

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A quick story I have to share.

While traveling through europe we decided to use the budget airline Spanish Vueling for a short flight from Brussels to Barcelona. Because we were traveling for a month in europe we always kept a strong eye on our baggage weight so we had no issues checking two bags in at the counter at the Brussels airport.

After a non-eventful flight we landed at the newly opened Barcelona airport and were told to continue to baggage carousal 4 to pickup our bags, after a long walk through the airport to the baggage area I take note of the screen above carousal 4 which says our flight number will also be shared with another flights baggage from Lufthansa.

Waiting until the bags start to flow it seems the lufthansa passengers get their baggage while we are waiting for ever. After standing there for about 40 minutes with what seems like the whole plane waiting with us we were starting to get frustrated. Out of the corner of my eye I see a member of airport staff taking away a lot of bags left over from carousal 2 from another flight.. I thought to myself 'thats an odd amount of left luggage'.

The staff member picks up a red coloured bag that was unmistakably my bag (I know this because my partner gave me grief about choosing such a brightly coloured bag in the first place) . I walk down to him and in my very broken Spanish/English point/yell I let him know that was my bag. It seems that the flight luggage had gone onto the wrong carousal, and the half the bag were being taken away.

I thought I better let someone know, I went over to a english speaking supervisor and suggested they let the other passengers know.
I got a dead pan stare with the simple comment of 'WE dont deal with that Airline, not my problem' which at this point I gave up (I was pulled away by that again aforementioned partner)

The short of it , remember what your bag looks like
 
Good advice. There are other reasons to always remember what your bag looks like.

One of them is purely because the baggage carousel is a minefield. Unless you are wise/lucky enough to choose a bag that is distinctive enough, most bags look alike - and I'm not talking about minor features, for most people the colour of the bag is enough to say, "these bags look alike". And then of course most bags also have the same shape (dimensions), so that doesn't help.

Bearing this in mind, one thing you always have to look out for is when someone picks up your bag in error. If you're lucky you can plonk yourself at a spot where the bags enter the belt, or close to it. If you can't, you have to be ready to run at someone who has your bag in error before they get away. Whether they did it by mistake or maliciously, you need to be ready to spot your bag at any distance and if someone tries to take it away, rush them.

FWIW we flew Vueling into BCN on a recent trip to Europe and had no problems with baggage.
 
I have a BLUE Samsonite (and I should have bought the Yellow but I went all conservative at the last minute...) .. an Olive Green roll-aboard and a very, very pale green laptop bag...

I wanted anything but black!:mrgreen:
 
Whilst my bags look like standard sized and shaped black bags, it has a set of very distinctive baggage tags on it (I've only ever seen one other pax with the same baggage tags), so this is how I find my bag, I simply look for the tag, not the bag itself...

Hasn't failed me yet...

As for loading the bags on to the wrong carousal, well, I've heard of airlines doing stupid things, but I think that takes the cake... Me thinks I would be avoiding checking in bags with the airline in question incase my bags ended up on the wrong side of the world. :shock:
 
Any time I have checked baggage it's usually clothes and stuff in a sports bag.
1. It's got "Sydney Roosters 100 years" and there aren't many of those.
2. I also tie an old school football sock to the straps.
So I can't go wrong!

In fact my bag has gone halfway round Europe while I've been in London and it's been up to Cairns while it should have been in Melbourne, and it always turns up!
 
Mrs SFSC and I stick a luminous green sticker on all suitable surfaces with a piece of orange sticky tape placed in the middle of the green sticker.

We can usually identify our bags long before they reach us regardless of how they have landed on the belt.

We carry replacement stickers and tape on our trips but only have had to replace about 50% of them since we started putting them on in 1996, mainly because some materials don't retain stickyness as long as others.
 
Trooper
I have a BLUE Samsonite.....

Uh oh hope we're never on the same flight I've got a blue Samsonite too. Had it since 1995 and it's still in very good condition.

Also bought a set of 4 suitcases a year or so back on the overstock website Luggage & Travel Bags : Online Discount Luggage for about AUD120.00 in a navy and aqua blue hibiscus print and I've only ever seen two other people with the same bags and fortunately neither were on the same flight as me at the time.

Even if you do have a black bag which seems to be the choice of colour for about 99% of misplaced bags why not let the kids loose with some fabric paint & jazz it up a little bit.

Fortunately thus far I haven't lost any luggage when travelling with these bags. The only time it didn't arrive was on a CNS/DRW flight when the magic carpet inside the QF 737 broke down so they had to stop loading & leave 50 bags behind in CNS due to crew almost being out of hours on their final sector of the day.

BTW I've never seen any male pax accidentally take a pink suitcase in error!

Cheers

Oz
 
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anat0l said:
FWIW we flew Vueling into BCN on a recent trip to Europe and had no problems with baggage.

They weren't bad. I'll never get used to the 'European Bus Run'... which is what I call that moment when you get off the Bus from the terminal and everybody runs to grab the best seats, it's madness!!
 
Bearing this in mind, one thing you always have to look out for is when someone picks up your bag in error..

You've never seen anything funnier than my 80yo grandmother (some years ago) chasing a young-ish businessman across the luggage hall at QF domestic because he's picked up her bag. The look on his face was a classic as he was accosted by her! :D:D:D
 
Saw this on the carousel at PHX and thought it was kinda neat...:mrgreen:


DSCN0349.jpg


(Sorry about the quality....)
 
Most of my bags seem to be black; even the one I just brought was black.

I have a bright yellow Flyertalk tag which stands out very well, a few flights ago someone had pulled it off the carousel and I thought umm I don't think there were going to be any other Flyertalkers on my flight.

A bit of colored ribbon can help as well; or a sticker of your local football team, which tells people where you are from can also be useful.
 
A bit of colored ribbon can help as well; or a sticker of your local football team, which tells people where you are from can also be useful.

Depends on your choice of football team and location. The wrong sticker in the wrong place...

I normally choose a colourful tag.
 
Bundy Bear
A bit of colored ribbon can help as well

.....or be of no help depending on how many other pax have ribbons on their bags also. BB, why not get someone to draw a Bundy Bear in paint on your case or better still have a drink or two of the stuff to bring out your creative side and let loose! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Saw one guy who took the wrong bag once & when he came back said "my missus always puts a ribbon on her bag". It's almost the rule now fella rather than exception.

Other things I've seen attached to suitcase handles are bits of Coles plastic shopping bags - not really a good look, oh and a pair of jocks a grandmother put on an unaccompanied minors bag which may have gone unnoticed if it wasn't for the UM announcing loudly "grandma put Daddy's underpants on my case"! :oops: :oops:
 
The short of it , remember what your bag looks like

I learnt my lesson about this a long time ago...

Was on a flight to Sydney, had a brand new suitcase that hadn't got any particular distinguishing marks. Got to the carousel, picked up what I thought was the right bag. Took a closer look and wasn't sure - so opened it up and had a look inside.

It wasn't.

At that exact moment the owner appeared and asked what the hell I was doing going through his stuff. He clearly didn't believe me and threatened to call the police.

Obvious moral: Always have some distinguishing mark on your luggage. I use multi-coloured cable ties as they're almost impossible to break off.
 
I use a black "solid" Antler bag, always with a Safety colour strap around it, usually Bright pink or yellow, never had a mix up yet. The Japanese use coloured straps, but their bags are completely different.
If Glad Wrapping was cheaper maybe that.................

Cheers Dee
 
spiggy_topes
Got to the carousel, picked up what I thought was the right bag. Took a closer look and wasn't sure - so opened it up and had a look inside.

That was a bit gung ho of you spiggy. :shock: :shock: You could always try comparing the name or number of the tag on suitcase handle to your baggage receipt first before opening up the case.

Last year a bloke turned up at the airport too late for baggage acceptance for a flight but not too late to go without bags. He was asked if he wanted to go on the next days flight (no charge) so he could take his bag with him but was adamant he had to be on that flight so told staff they could donate his bag to charity & didn't care what they did with it.

Just curious what he thought Vinnies or the Salvos might do with an inflatable doll (yes, that kind) with a face that resembled a rather surprised looking Pamela Anderson, a white hard hat, hi viz parker, some rubber gloves, surgical gloves, a fishing reel and I believe a couple of tubes of a certain lubricant. :oops: :oops:
 
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Was on a flight to Sydney, had a brand new suitcase that hadn't got any particular distinguishing marks. Got to the carousel, picked up what I thought was the right bag. Took a closer look and wasn't sure - so opened it up and had a look inside.

It wasn't.

At that exact moment the owner appeared and asked what the hell I was doing going through his stuff. He clearly didn't believe me and threatened to call the police.

Ouch. Not my method of splitting hairs. :(

What is probably rather interesting is that neither case was locked (i.e. no padlocks or the like). That is, one way you might have known is that you might have tried to open the padlock on the bag and found that the key doesn't work. Unless you both happened to coincidentally buy the same set of locks.

Still, can't really go wrong with baggage tags. I don't blame that other guy for getting furious.
 
For some reason I prefer black coloured luggage. I usually have a large red or pink ribbon tied on the handle so it is not too hard to spot.

I have never taken someone else's luggage (if I am in doubt I check the luggage tag for my name) but there has been times when I have seen people take my bag with uncertainty if it is their's or not. I don't always hang around the carousel so I guess one of these days someone will end up walking out with my bag. Hope they wash the dirty laundry when they return it to me.
 
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For some reason I prefer black coloured luggage. I usually have a large red or pink ribbon tied on the handle so it is not too hard to spot.

.

While my luggage is of various colors...I like John always put a distinctive ribbon, or similar on the handle.

All of my bags are , as is everyone's, massed produced and so my theory is that sooner or latter that a matching bag will be on the same flight as mine.

With the very distinctive ones the other person may be more inclined to just grab "their" bag without checking than if it was a "black" bag.

So hence the ribbon on the handle as it will most likely be seen by whoever goes to pick the bag up.
 
While my luggage is of various colors...I like John always put a distinctive ribbon, or similar on the handle.

Ditto for me as well. I normally wrap and tie a hanky or similar type of cloth around the top handle [when it is on it's wheels] . Unlikely to get in the way of baggage handlers - and very apparent when someone puts the bag on it's wheels. Also helps greatly with identifying your bag as soon as it comes out on the conveyor.
 
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